Alright already...

Here are some pics from Jennahs birthday. In this pic, I had just finished her adorable pigtails. She hated the process, but she is going to have to learn about "suffer for beauty" sometime...













Look, I'm her older, fatter twin....















Mean Auntie Cindy picked her out this adorable hat, and she really worked it.















She shared some cake with Great-Uncle Jim, or "Jungle Jim" as my younger cousins used to call him.














Mmmmmmm....cake.

Back at Home, Ilhamdulillah salama.

We got back home and it is so great to be here. My mom met us at the airport, along with my Dad. It was so great to see the both of them. Then as an added bonus, my brother Alex, and sis in law Renee were here at our house to see us as well with- Tada, mexican food from a local joint, Don Luis. So good to be home.
Also, did I neglect to mention (yes.) That my baby girl turned One year old yesterday? Such a big girl, and she is walking, people. She look like she has had a few shots of Jager, but she walks . Right now both are still sleeping, but i am going to be sorting some laundry, starting a load up, YAY! I have a dryer again, and then waking the angels up. Jennah has her 1st birthday party this weekend at a Alex and Renees and I need to start planning the shindig.
So I am back. Much love to my baby bro who hooked me up with a brand spanking new wireless router yesterday before i came home. Now i can still use my new laptop to blog and stuff, in the manner i have become accustomed. Love ya , Bro. And Oh crap, thank you to my Dad for picking us up and to my mom- who should have gotten hazardous duty pay while cleaning my kitchen, and organizing it for me.... Apparently, I have some Fear Factor-style hissing cockroaches in my kitchen. (not any more, Thanks Mom.) She also spruced up the rest of the pad which was so nice to come back to.
I love you guys.

Then of course comes Friday....

We had a dinner at Tant Nahed's house. Once again, the food was delicious, but unfortunately I didn't get a picture of the spread. We had a really nice visit. Tant Nahed lives in Giza, right off of the same street that the pyramids are on. So, reasonable people, (and I know you all are reasonable people, for the most part,) would think that I would get some pyramid pictures. You'd be wrong. It was getting pretty dark on our way, we were following Maged, and pictures don't turn out well from a moving auto, observe: That is a picture of Mohammed Alis Mosque, or "The Citadel" as all the street signs call it, taken from the car.

This is a pretty awesome picture of my son, who is refusing almost any picture these days. He is wearing about 3 different sets of prayer beads around his neck in this picture. He does a decent re-enactment of his sisters crying, and I will get to work on getting that on video. Like I said, he is camera resistant at this time.











Another one who is camera resistant is Kooki. It must be the age. However, Nada, Kooki's older sister got the two of them to sit together for a few pictures, which I find truly amazing. Thank you Nada, much props.

Goodbye, Grampa.

My Grampas funeral was today. Here is the obituary that appeared in a local paper. I will miss him so much. A phrase from one of my favorite movies, Forrest Gump: That's all I have to say about that.


ARTHUR J. GARCIA NOV. 24, 1928 - FEB. 24, 2007 Arthur Garcia, 78, passed away Saturday, February 24, 2007 in his home after a short battle with cancer. He was born on November 24, 1928 in Turlock, California. He graduated from Rustic Grammar School and Manteca High School, after which he farmed sweet potatoes with his brother and father. Later, he worked for the Manteca Post Office, and Lou's Termite Control from which he retired. He was a member of the YMI with St. Anthony's Parish, and was active in The Boy Scouts of America with his sons. More recently he was a member of the Men of the Sacred Heart at St. Patricks Catholic Church in Ripon, where he and his wife, Donna, were active members. Mr. Garcia, beloved husband of Donna Garcia, loving father of Cynthia Smedley, of Stockton, Dennis Garcia of French Camp, Gary Garcia of Modesto, James Garcia of Manteca, and Brian Garcia of Ripon, as well as Michael Smedley of Stockton whom he thought of as his son. He was also a loving stepfather to George Azevedo, Jr of Stockton and Kathleen Riley of Manteca. He leaves many grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and will be sorely missed by all. Mr. Garcia was very active in his church, and loved nothing better than to spend time at home with his family around him. He was preceded in death by his first wife, Barbara Garcia and son Mathew, and stepson, Cliff Corder, as well as his parents, Frank and Mamie Garcia of Manteca, brother Frank Garcia, Jr., sisters Dorothy Mendes, Mary Von der Heide, Adeline Dice, and Florence Gomes. He was the loving brother of Madeline Azevedo and Eleanor Andrada. The Rosary will be recited Wednesday, February 28, 2007,at 9:30 a.m. with services following at St. Patricks Catholic Church, 19399 E. Hwy. 120, in Ripon, CA. Friends are invited to attend a gathering in the Church Social Hall. Donations are requested in lieu of flowers to the St. Patricks Church Building Fund, or the Hospice of San Joaquin. 3888 Pacific Avenue, Stockton, CA 95204 www.hospicesj.org

New Arrival....

Amr's brother Ayman got here today from Albania. This is the first time I have met him in the five years that Amr ad I have been married. When I came in '04, his plane got stuck in Greece, so I missed him by like, one day.

Here is a few funny tidbits regarding the first time I met my brother in law. First off, he was wearing the same shirt my husband has at home. Jacket too. Let's not forget shoes: they were almost the same as Amrs, just a darker color. Then, when we came home, we were getting out of the car and I said to Jennah, "don't cry," and Big Ayman popped off with, "Don't cry for me Argentina." Now, for those of you who know Amr, you know that he does this type of thing all the time. It seems my husband and brother in law share the same weird, dry sense of humor. The above picture of Big Ayman and Little Ayman is the best I can do right now, Little Ayman is being kind of a flibberty-jibbett. You get the idea though.

Sad Day.

Well, sad news today, about 2 weeks after finding out my Grampa had cancer, he has passed away. He was so sweet and kind, and I will miss him soooo much. It sucks to be so far away at a time like this. It is weird, and I really don't want to sound kooky, but here goes. This whole time he has been sick, I haven't dreamt about him. Except for last night. When I got the email from my Mom that he passed away, I knew what it was going to say before I opened it. Sure enough, there it was.

I love you, and will miss you Grampa.

Late Holiday Pics

Sorry! I am having trouble with the font sizes on this post. I think I confused Blogger.

Here is my sweetie Jennah with her pretty Grandma Cindy. This was taken at my Aunt Cindy and Uncle James house, where we had Xmas celebrations on the 17th. A great time was had by all. The food was good, We had a talent show that was just awesome, (in fact i think i will post some pics of that too...) and Santa came to visit. ( as witnessed below by the picture of my horrified son.) Jennah was sleeping during the present opening, so she didn't get to cry at Santa like her brother did.















SANTA CAN BE SCARY.

As demonstrated by my dear boy. I hope he gets over this next Xmas. Probably though, what will happen, is by the time he stops being scared he won't believe in Santa anymore. I guess we can say that my holidays were awesome. I look forward to all of it again next year, and hope it doesn't take that long to get every one together again.


And, since I am me, and this is my blog, and I can write whatever I want, here is my catty comment on Xmas.

*********Holiday Gripe***********

My cousin stopped coming to family things. I am sure because of the falling out that we had. If you don't know what I am talking about, you can read all about it here (and the rebuttal here, to be fair). Anyhoo, she had told some of our family that her daughter would go to family things, which I think is nice because, how petty do you have to be to get your child involved in a grown up issue? Well, a couple of weeks before Xmas (after I had purchased presents for the children, mind you) we were all made aware, that not only would my cousin not be attending, (no surprise there) but neither would her daughter. The reason for this is unknown to me, but maybe if I am lucky she will let me in on that one in the form of a post to this humble outlet of my joys and frustrations. I have kept her Xmas present at my house, and if Kayla would ever like to have it, I would love to have her come over and get it. Several of my relatives including myself did not bring her a present. (I did buy one, had I known she wouldn't be there, I would not have bothered) Others had a present and left it at my aunts house because they didn't know what to do with it. Still others re gifted the child's present. I myself will hold on to it until I go shopping for stuff for Egypt then I will spend it (a gift card to a boutique) on myself. I think it is a damn shame that you can't put aside your bullshit for one day, and just go and be with your family. I am sure there are excuses for everything. I mean that is why they have that saying. You know, the one that likens them to assholes. I will keep my opinions of her alleged disability to myself, since I will just be accused of being insensitive.
There you have it, my holiday gripe.

A couple of firsts.....

Jennah is feeding herself theses days. this is her first time in the high chair. It is a crappy high chair, it is one of those prtable ones, so I bought a new one today that is real. It is pretty nice. Best of all it doesn't make me as nervous as the one that is pictured did.

Here is Ayman, his first time riding the bus home from preschool. When I went out to meet him and he saw me, his bottom lip started quivering, like he was going to cry. He didn't though, and tomorrow, he will ride the bus home from school again. I know it has been a long time since I blogged so I cant really remember if I mentioned that Ayman is going to school, but he does, two days a week on Thursday and Friday. I was taking him and dropping him off. However, with Jennah, it is kind of hard, and they offer door to door service over here. Right now we are in the process of getting him used to the bus, so he only rides it home. Next Thursday, he will going on the bus round trip. Woo Hoo!
So, as I mentioned before, we are going to go to Egypt next month. We got the leave approved, we bought the airline tickets, (holy crap! all told, it cost 3600!) I bought a refurbished laptop to keep in touch with everyone, and we are almost ready to go. The next steps are all really prep and purchasing. We buy the nieces ans nephews clothes, and of course, I wash the gray out of my hair and put some caramel in it. Then, there is packing and all that crap. I am too excited. Hopefully, while I am there I will be able to post on the blog if the connection to the internet doesn't make me completely lose my patience. The new computer has a DVD so I can bring some Diego, and Blues Clues to keep the kiddies happy. Good deal.
Well, I will keep everyone up to date....Sorry it took me so long to get back up and running.

Jennah is 7 months and other milestones.

Here is my girl, about 15 minutes after she was born. Today she is 7 months old. My mom and I took her for some shots and some medical rotovirus. She is soo good that she only cried for like 3 seconds, or about the amount of time it took to pull up her little pants and pick her up. She is really mellow. Right now she just started making like she is chewing her food and it is so cute. She really smacks those little gums together to chew the mooshy food i give her. She gets lots of bananas, yogurt, cereal, avocado and breastmilk. Sunday she got to try her daddys favorite-Koshary. I ground it up in the babyfood processor and she was all over it. She doesn't have any teeth yet, but judging by the amount of drool she is putting out, she should be cutting some anytime now. She makes all kinds of noises and her brother is the apple of her eye. Ayman calls her "sissy" and gives her kisses all the time. one of his favorite things to do is take toys away from her then give them back, aboiut 30 seconds later. Whenever Daddy comes home from work, she can't wait for him to pick her up. If he goes past her with out doing so, she has a baby freakout. We love you Sissy.

I took this picture of my boy this past weekend. He hadn't sat in this chair for a while as it was on "time out" in the garage. It was getting to be the end of the day and he got a babydoll (also from the garage) and just kind of sat in front of the house. Like he was just enjoying the peace at the end of a grueling day of playing at the park, eating sandwiches and Doritos, drinking juice and having fun. I guess even at 34 months you have to take the time to smell the roses. It was adorable.

And finaly we have this picture. I took this because it is Aymans first night in his big boy bed. (that he has had for over a year now) He did so good. I can't believe he even slept under the covers. Today I put all of the little girl stuff on his crib, and someday I hope to have Jennah sleep in it. Right now she is perfectly happy sleeping right between mommy and daddy, close to the milk supply. Ayman only had one incident last night with crying, and he got over it quick. Lets hope tonight goes off with out a hitch. Now, if we could only teach him how to use the potty....

Happy Family

Another picture from Jacobs graduation party. I think we are all looking at the camera, amazingly enough. Ayman was totally distracted by the last of his Smartees in this sitting so we had to try to take this about 10 times. The joy of a short attention span.

Kickin' it with Uncle Alex.

We went to cousin Jacobs graduation party this last weekend. Luau food and fun was had by all. There was a pinata, and Ayman got some smartees out of it. He is seen here with his Uncle Alex, chillin' and chompin'.

A Pregnant Lady in All Her Pregnant Glory

Here are pictures of me huge, taken for posterity at my baby shower. The shower was given to me by my sister in law Renee, and my mom, Cindy. It was a great day, and I am very thankful to the both of them for doing something so special.

BTW, people, I go to the doctor tomorrow (after yet another pedicure) I guess we will see if the walking I have been doing has helped me out any.

36 week frontal view-

Looks can be deceiving....
36 week side view-

Woo Hoo! Whale on the beach!

It's reaaalllly ON now.

I went to the doctor yesterday, and we will be inducing my labor next week. WOO HOO!
So, until then I will be walking. And walking. And walking. I had a semi encouraging cervical exam, (open fingertip, I guess better than nothing) So, I walk. And vacuum. Do some squats. Maybe a few Jumping jacks.... Still haven't packed my bag for the hospital yet, but the babies' bed came and that is now good to go as well.

Now, we wait.

The news is in....

We had the ultra sound this morning. The baby weighs between 7lbs 12 oz-14oz. Goodness, that is nearly eight pounds. How do I do this? We got to see her face really well, and as soon as my darling brother scans the pictures and sends them to me, I will share with you all out there too. And finally, last but not least, we found out FOR Sure, 100% NO Doubt that it is a little girl. I trust my ob's PA, and all, but her ultrasound machine is like, 100 years old. Today, I saw little girl parts. TOTALLY. Whew. I would have had a lot of returning to do.
So now I just finish nesting. The cosleeper is on the way, the baby closet is organized. Now for the stroller/car seat (or travel system, if you will) I also need to pack for the hospital, but I think I will leave that undone. Or not, I don't know, my brain is mush at this point. Ok signing off for now, I have a munchkin in the tub that needs a toothbrushing.

A Rebuttal To My Previous Post....

My cousin read my blog and had this rebuttal. I thought I would post it in the interest of fairness.

"Yes Cassie for your info I do read your blog and if that is how you feel about me well no sweat off my brow. And also for your info I did not have a bunion I had a bone spur so get your facts correct .And since were being so blunt I don't call your kid for his birthday well I have a kid too, goes both ways. And as far as all the Holidays go those were things that did come up and what is it to you anyways Our so called Family Christmas isn't Christmas it's all about who brings the good gifts. Lets get real about what a family Chritsmas means, to me it means getting together having a dinner and just enjoying each other. But with our family it just isn't that way. And I know for a fact that all of you talk about me and My Dad I've known that for years but I just go and play the game you all do, be nice to there face, talk about them when they leave. It's been this way in our family all of my life and let's be honest with each other you and I have never seen eye to eye. I don't really care what any of you think about me because I will live my life anyway I want. And if I don't want to attend a Family function ,well that is my right. Well like you quoted in your long ass letter about me I feel so much better to get this off my chest"

*****Cass here, wanting to add that I have never talked trash on Alicias dad. The man has a good heart, and can fight his own battles. I am hoping anyone who reads this, that is in my family, will allow Alicia and I to have our own differences and not jump in. Thanks.*****

So I Am A Bitch....It Is MY Blog, Isn't It?

Ok, I am sorry. I guess I have just had enough of the bullsh*t. I am sure more than one person can relate to what I am gonna say and, probably more than one person will say "why does she let it bother her?" So here goes.

I have a cousin. I won't put her name up here but all my family knows who I am talking about. Hell, she might even visit this blog. I mean there is a link from our family website to this one, right here. Anywho, this cousin is a flake and it really pisses me off. I mean, ok, here: We all hate family obligations sometimes. But that is what they are. OBLIGATIONS. This one gets out of them everyt time it seems. In the last three years she has made it to our families' Xmas once. Yes, once. We have had family Xmas the Sunday before Xmas for years now so everyone can make it. You know when it is coming an entire year in advance. If you have a calendar you can look at it. The Sunday before Christmas. It isn't hard. For Xmas of 2003, she said she had Traffic School. Traffic School people!What traffic school is held on a Sunday? Before Xmas? When my aunt and I asked her daughter where she was, the reply was, "my mom cut her finger and couldn't come." Do you smell the bullsh*t? I sure do; and it gets better. Here is a list of her most recent excuses, in her own words taken from the family website we have. The names have been changed to protect the innocent.

This post was regarding the Thanksgiving and Xmas holidays this year:

Felicia Barcia - Nov 7, 2005 Edit | Delete | Viewers | Reply to this item
"Happy holidays to everyone so glad to hear Uncle Ryan coming home what a great present for us all. Kaylie (her daughter) spends Thanksgiving every year for the past 6 years with Jon's family. And as for Bill and I we will not be attending and of the Holidays this year. On Nov 18th I will be having Surgery on my foot I will be off work for a few months. But the doctor said for the first 6 weeks I have to stay off of my foot and no driving. Grandma and Grandpa already know because Kaylie and I went out to see them and take there Birthday cards to them. Bill is having his Mom, brother and stepdad here at our house for Thanksgiving and is making the whole dinner. As far as I know My dad and Jan will have Kaylie for Christmas I haven't talked to them in awhile. I wish everyone well and to have a great Thanksgiving please give Uncle Ryan a great big hug for me.Happy Holidays to all. P.S, Bill and I went out to see my mom in South Dakota and we had a layover in Denver while we were sitting there Bill noticed this women walking by it was mimi from the Drew Carey show if any watches that. And then all of a sudden we look up and it was Drew Carey walking by so I got to shake his hand and meet him he was real nice I thought it was kinda cool so I thought I'd share that with all of you love you all"

(OK, I understand her not coming to thanksgiving. But Xmas? a month later? She had a bunion shaved down for goodness sakes. Oh and By the way, that uncle she is talking about just came back from a tour in Iraq, but no problem. And I am so glad she could share with us that tidbit about Drew Carey.)

This post was regarding an invitation to our other cousins 13th birthday:

Felicia Barcia- Jan 11, 2006 Edit | Delete | Viewers | Reply to this item
"Well I wish Lynnie a Happy birthday but I am still on crutches and Kaylie (her daughters') Best friends B-day is on the 19th so Kaylie will be going with her and her parents up to there cabin in Twain Hart and going skiing so Lynnie I hope you have a nice B-day."

(Gee, big surprise there. Oh, and still milking the MINOR surgery angle.)

And finally, regarding my baby shower:

Felicia Barcia - Feb 7, 2006 Edit | Delete | Viewers | Reply to this item
"Cassie sorry I will not be able to make the shower we have already had plans for that weekend. Good luck with the baby"

So there you have it. I am not necessarily mad that she can't come to my shower although she used almost the same exact excuse last time I had a baby shower, and didn't bother to RSVP or wish my son Happy birthday, it just really rubs me wrong. This is just a sampling. She has only had a computer for like a year and a half.
We have had the website for like, 4 years. Ok, I dunno, what my point is. I am sure if I babble here a little more I might find one though. One time when she cancelled on Xmas The night before mind you, ( I think she just doesn't want to spend the money on gifts) I let her have it. I spoke for no one but myself. Well, she got on the horn and had people so pissed that a couple set of Aunts and Uncles weren't going to come. These people talk a gangload of sh*t about her too, but when it comes right down too it, say nothing. So I have learned to keep my mouth shut. Ok, so this isn't exactly keeping my mouth shut, anyone who doesn't like it can just suck it, and quit reading, cuz this is my blog, Y'all.
Whew, I think I feel better now.
Crisis averted.